diff --git a/bin/LAUNCH.sh b/bin/LAUNCH.sh
index f9c487e0..a565fd4c 100755
--- a/bin/LAUNCH.sh
+++ b/bin/LAUNCH.sh
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ else
     exit 1
 fi
 
+export AIL_APP_SECRET_KEY="$(LC_ALL=C tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 </dev/urandom | head -c 200; echo)"
+
 export PATH=$AIL_VENV/bin:$PATH
 export PATH=$AIL_HOME:$PATH
 export PATH=$AIL_REDIS:$PATH
diff --git a/installing_deps.sh b/installing_deps.sh
index c681249b..7de10390 100755
--- a/installing_deps.sh
+++ b/installing_deps.sh
@@ -6,12 +6,18 @@ set -e
 ## bash debug mode toggle below
 #set -x
 
-sudo apt-get update
+# if running as root (eg inside a base ubuntu docker container)
+if [ "$EUID" -eq 0 ]; then
+    apt-get update
+    apt-get install -y sudo
+else
+    sudo apt-get update
+fi
 
 sudo apt-get install python3-pip virtualenv python3-dev python3-tk libfreetype6-dev \
     screen g++ unzip libsnappy-dev cmake -qq
 
-sudo apt-get install automake libtool make gcc pkg-config -qq
+sudo apt-get install automake libtool make gcc pkg-config git -qq
 
 #Needed for downloading jemalloc
 sudo apt-get install wget -qq
diff --git a/var/www/Flask_server.py b/var/www/Flask_server.py
index a00f0f7e..5e4d251d 100755
--- a/var/www/Flask_server.py
+++ b/var/www/Flask_server.py
@@ -115,10 +115,10 @@
 # =========       =========#
 
 # ========= Cookie name ========
-app.config.update(SESSION_COOKIE_NAME='ail_framework_{}'.format(uuid.uuid4().int))
+app.config.update(SESSION_COOKIE_NAME='ail_session')
 
 # ========= session ========
-app.secret_key = str(random.getrandbits(256))
+app.secret_key = os.getenv('AIL_APP_SECRET_KEY', 'ailAppSecretKey')
 login_manager = LoginManager()
 login_manager.login_view = 'root.login'
 login_manager.init_app(app)